2009 is getting off to a good start for us Diva fans, as ECW has finally gotten in on the action! In her first ever WWE match, Alicia Fox took on Katie Lea in her first ever ECW match. Watch below: ALICIA FOX VS KATIE LEA For such a short match, this was actually very … Read more
Here’s some little fun facts I came across today: win/loss records for 2008! So which Diva notched up the most wins? Who lost the most? (As if it isn’t obvious) Well drumroll please… Beth Phoenix and Mickie James are on equal standing, with the most wins in 2008, accumulating 17 a piece. Meanwhile Jillian continued … Read more
Through the month of December, you voted for your favourite Divas and moments of 2008 and now the results are in! The results will be posted throughout the day, so keep checking back!
DIVA OF THE YEAR
And the nominees are:
– Alicia Fox
– The Bella Twins
– Beth Phoenix
– Candice
– Eve
– Jillian
– Katie Lea
– Kelly Kelly
– Layla
– Lilian Garcia
– Maria
– Maryse
– Melina
– Michelle McCool
– Mickie James
– Natalya
– Tiffany
– Victoria
Continue for the result:
Through the month of December, you voted for your favourite Divas and moments of 2008 and now the results are in! The results will be posted throughout the day, so keep checking back!
BEST NEWCOMER
And the nominees are:
– The Bella Twins
– Katie Lea
– Maryse
– Natalya
– Taylor Wilde
Continue for the result:
Through the month of December, you voted for your favourite Divas and moments of 2008 and now the results are in! The results will be posted throughout the day, so keep checking back!
BEST PHOTOSHOOT
And the nominees are:
– Beth Phoenix, ‘The Two Faces of Beth Phoenix’
– Katie Lea, ‘Summer Skin’
– Layla, ‘Summer Skin’
– Maryse, ‘True Blue’
– Melina, ‘Breaking Light’
Continue for the result:
In a good news/bad news situation: ECW gains a Diva while Raw loses one. Katie Lea – along with ‘brother’ Paul Burchill – have been moved to the ECW roster, as of last night. Katie accompanied Burchill to the ring for his match with DJ Gabriel who had Alicia Fox in his corner. Thus bringing … Read more
This week on Raw: In six Diva action, Kelly Kelly led her team of Candice and Mickie James to victory over Jillian, Katie Lea and Layla.
Thoughts & Reactions
A decent match and a fun segment were on the bill from our Monday night crew. Not what I expected or wanted to see this week, but I have to say, it wasn’t overall a bad night for the Divas. I thought WWE may finally create a storyline this week with Cyber Sunday over, perhaps Kelly vs Beth for the title – it felt like the perfect time to start a new programme but nope. However, the six Diva tag team match was a good watch and Beth’s reaction to Charlie Haas was hilarious.
Starting with Beth, Haas looked exactly like the Glamazon lol. It’s almost eerie to be honest. I was hoping for a showdown between the real and fake Beths, would’ve been far more entertaining than anything involving Santino. Well not much more to add here…
Boy, did my heart stop when I found out Layla would actually be in a match! Holy frig! I ain’t gonna lie, it’s one of the few things that have excited me about Raw’s women’s division in the past few months. Says a lot about the division, if you ask me. When Kelly, Candice and Mickie came out, I actually began thinking about how strong the faces are on Raw at the moment. You have three popular Divas who can go in the ring each and every week, that’s a great thing. Meanwhile on the heel side, we only have one strong Diva in Beth Phoenix while we cannot take the likes of Jillian and Katie Lea seriously because we know they are but jobbers. If WWE actually built up Jillian or Katie a little bit more, I think the division could be very strong. You have three believable faces but only one believable heel. Hell, I think the less experienced Layla (who I heart and adore) is a more effective and believable heel than Jillian and Katie. I can believe that Layla is a bad ass Diva who’ll eff you up, but Jillian and Katie at this point are jokes. I hope WWE builds up Layla a little stronger than they have done with those two, because we need some strong heels on Raw. The only Diva that didn’t get perpetually buried like Jillian and Katie was Melina when she was a heel. She was always the number two heel behind Beth and when you had a tag team match say Mickie & Candice vs Beth & Melina, it seemed like an even match-up. We all knew the three faces would win this match, if WWE bothered in the slighest, the fans may just have felt this was an even match-up. Like I say, Layla is a greet heel in the making and I hope she’s not buried like her partners from last night.
The match saw some great work from all three faces, it was great to see Mickie back on Raw and back in the fold. However, I wonder if that was not just a technicality. I think WWE only booked her for Raw because she won the Costume Contest at Cyber Sunday, had she not I think she’d still be in limbo. Nice work from all three of the Divas this week, they all gelled well together which makes it easier to believe they are a team. I know I say it every week, but I think last night was a significant statement that Kelly is being pushed as the new top face on Raw. Even though WWE loves Candice and the fans love Mickie, Kelly was the one again, who came in off the hot tag and finished the match up. Say what you want about Kelly, but I think she’s worked really hard and she deserves this confidence that WWE is showing in her at the moment. Plus I’d personally rather see Kelly get a push than my darling *cough* Candice and let’s face it, as much as we all love Mickie, she needs to take a back seat for a while. Kelly is a new fresh face and I think this is an example that if you apply yourself, learn your craft, you will be rewarded. But who’s to say that Kelly won’t just be the flavour of the year, which I think was the case with Candice in 2007. Her stock has dropped in favour of Kelly, this year. As for the heels, I would have loved to see more of Layla in the ring, I really want to see her in a one on one match. I was a little wary of how Layla would fare in the ring, it’s been a long time since we’ve seen her in a match. It’s hard to believe that just a few months ago she was having show stopping matches with Michelle McCool on SmackDown, that seems a lifetime ago. I hope Layla’s still got it, she’s a great wrestler for someone who’s only been around for two years. And also wouldn’t it be cool to see Layla vs Kelly here and now on Raw? I mean after their disaster of a match on ECW in January, nearly a year later, it would be so cool to see them go at it.
Some other random tidbits: How effing funny was it when WWE cut Candice’s disrobing with Mickie’s entrance? Usually that’s the money shot for WWE, they just love showing us the disrobe. A welcome change and also possibly a subtle hint of Candice’s de-push. And how funny was it when the heels came out, Jillian was front and centre? The Diva in front and centre is usually considered the top heel in the match and it was Jillian the Joke (ooh I like that, new nickname!). I’d have put Layla front and centre myself, she’s the only one that hasn’t been completely devalued and the only one we can actually take seriously as a heel because she hasn’t jobbed every single match of her WWE career.
Those Superstars, err, I mean “Entertainers” sure are getting snappy these days! And by snappy I mean bitchy. Even for kayfabe, the comments seem to get more below the belt by the day! From John Morrison’s aim at Candice, Shad Gaspard’s MySpace blast on Miz & Morrison and for the latest in-fight? Katie Lea turns … Read more
With Cyber Sunday Halloween Costume Contest set to go down this Sunday, I felt inspired to assign costumes to each participating Diva. Although several Divas have already shared what their costume will be, I’ve gone ahead and came up with my own ideas, making sure to avoid the more cliche and skanky costumes. I mean, I don’t know how many times you can see a sexy nurse before losing your mind. Without further adieu, take a look at the costume options below and cast a vote for your favorite! No text messaging fee here, folks
This week on Raw: Candice and Kelly Kelly scored an impressive tag team victory over resident jobbers, Jillian and Katie Lea. Beth Phoenix and Layla also appeared.
Thoughts & Reactions
Monday Night Raw officially seems to be in “holding pattern” territory for our Divas of late. No storyline development, no challenger determined for our Women’s Champion. One Divas match per week to fill the ‘Diva quota’ (I know, I’ve overused that phrase… sorry) and that’s your lot folks! That said, the Divas matches of late haven’t been all that bad. The past few weeks have hinged on what I like to call the ‘Rise of Kelly Kelly’ and that continued this week with K2 scoring her third consecutive victory over Jillian. One could almost dub this a feud if the fans didn’t already know that Jillian would lose each and every match. Raw’s resident jobber brought along her second in command, Katie Lea – that’s nice of her right? So she didn’t have to be humiliated on her own this week. Honestly when you saw Jillian and Katie come out, did you actually think they stood a chance of winning? Though Jillian should think herself lucky to be on TV for nearly a whole month on a show other than ‘When Plastic Surgery Goes Bad’.
Sniping aside, I thought Candice and Kelly worked really well together and the crowd was into both Divas. Honestly, it was neck and neck in terms of cheers for both Divas. Candice looked the best she’s looked since her return, she seemed shaky still at No Mercy, but at this point I think the damage is done. WWE seems to be pushing Kelly into Candice’s old role as top-ish face, I say ‘top-ish’ because hard as they try to push both Divas, Mickie James always wins out with the crowd if there were a choice among the three. I think of Candice and Kelly in a similar vain, they’ve both come in from being unrespected bimbos, let’s be frank, to learning their craft. At this stage of the game, I would judge their in-ring abilities to be equal; I don’t think one is better than the other and I felt as though the moves Kelly did in this match, Candice has or could do and vice versa. Perhaps it’s a bad thing to have two Divas so similar (aside from hair colour) but at the same time, they both seem really popular and put on a decent match against Jillian and Katie. Even if you cannot find it in yourself to compliment their ability, as more ‘conservative’ fans do, you cannot deny that they worked the crowd. Could it be because they were the first on? I’d say that factored in, but Kelly has drawn a huge crowd response over the past couple of weeks from being further down the card also.
I think Kelly came out of this match the stronger winner than Candice, she’s the instigator – the dropkick on Jillian before the match and then coming in and getting the hot tag and finishing the match. Often in the past year, we’d see Mickie do all the work for Candice to take the credit in these tag match as she was pushed for the Women’s Championship and now it seems Kelly is being primed for Candice’s spot. What does that say for Candice? I think there’s more than enough space for her on Raw (personal preferences aside) but I don’t think she’ll receive quite the push she received in 2007, now or in the distinct future looking ahead to 2009. She’s not wholly to blame for being brought back off her game, but I think her ring rust hindered her chances of being champion again and continuing her ‘feud’ with Beth; WWE seems to be writing that off. But that is just my conjecture, in reality, Kelly has only scored a few wins – it hasn’t translated into a storyline with Beth or a match for the title yet.
As for Jillian and Katie, poor Katie! I think she has a lot of potential – though she has been less than impressive in the ring – she has a great look and character that could be built on. WWE seems to have just simply confined her to Jillian #2.
I didn’t watch the Beth segment, so anyone can fill me in the comments. Thanks! For the two seconds we saw Layla, she looked gorgeous with an elongated ‘goooooorrrrrrrrr’. Even if she doesn’t do much, she does it with style.
The most interactive deceptive pay-per-view of the year returns! Two Diva-related events have been scheduled for Cyber Sunday, which takes place in two weeks. Rock the vote to decide: • Choose which teams will go one-on-one in a Pick the Tag Team Match. Choose from one of the following matches: – Tag Team Champs Cody … Read more
Poor Katie Lea may be mourning the death of a brother in the not too distant future. Internet reports suggest that Katie’s on-screen sibling is facing the chop from WWE. On the plus side, I don’t see our English rose following Paul Burchill out the door. Paul hasn’t been seen on television in a while, … Read more
This week on Raw: Candice Michelle made her comeback in six Diva action, scoring the win for her team of Mickie James and Kelly Kelly by pinning Beth Phoenix, whose partners included Katie Lea and Jillian.
Thoughts & Reactions
She’s back and as controversial as ever. No Diva divides fans the way that Candice does and that’s been evident from reading your comments and reviews on Candice’s comeback on Raw last night. As for this blogger, I’m sure you all know Candice wouldn’t exactly make my Christmas card list (if I knew her that is) so I may be biased when I write about her. But hey, that’s what friends blogs are for. Some clever guess work on WWE’s part for having Candice make her miraculous comeback on a taped edition of Raw rather than the live thing, because the editing is causing an uproar among you Diva fans. The match was definitely edited at the end. I guess they knew that it wouldn’t be pretty, either.
Moving away from the wrestling to begin with: I couldn’t help but feel Candice’s comeback was the most contrived piece of television since Jade Goody decided to “redeem herself” by entering the Indian Big Brother house. From the outfit to the bad acting as she went to the top turnbuckle to tears at the end, this wasn’t as much a “comeback” as it was a “blubfest”. We’re supposed to feel sorry for Candice, we’re supposed to root for Candice – but in all honesty, Candice isn’t as likable as WWE would have their fans think. This is evident by the way she divides Internet fans. I can’t help but feel Candice is a contradiction of herself, she tries to come across so profound but then shows up on Raw looking like a dominatrix – one who can’t keep her clothes on, for that matter. If her outfit “defines beauty”, I’d rather be ugly. Then we have the tears after she retreated up the ramp following the match, “Pity me! Pity me!” I hope WWE realises that Candice is not the innocent babyface like Trish or Mickie and trying to have her act like she is will never catch on with the fans, just look at the furore she causes online. PS: I thought Raw was now a PG show?
Anyhoo, onto the match – I really enjoyed the work from our Divas this week. Kelly and Mickie seemed more fired up than usual, Mickie in particular was the most exciting I’ve seen her since her fourth Women’s Championship win – perhaps she’s trying not to be overshadowed by Candice? Kelly continues to improve and she worked well for her short part of the match. Jillian and Mickie shared a great chemistry that I enjoyed thoroughly. As for Katie Lea, I think she works better in a tag team combination than in singles action and that’s odd, if you ask me. Her tag team work was much better than her series of horrible and bland matches with Mickie this past summer. As for our Glamazon, well I certainly didn’t like that they buried Beth straight away against Candice. So much for a “money feud” between these two. They ruined it in a matter of minutes by having them interact at the first instance. I would’ve had Candice pin Jillian or Katie and then have Beth retreat from the ring quickly, avoiding any confrontation between these two – prolonging that eventual match. Obviously, logic isn’t WWE’s strongest suit.
Candice’s in-ring return was a mixed bag, I’ll admit it wasn’t as bad as I expected it to be, but it wasn’t great either. There were a few glimmers of excitement (such as that hair-drop thing she hit on Beth from the corner), but for every glimmer there’s a botched headscissor takedown. It seems to me that Candice has even yet to master the basic forearm, perhaps she should concentrate on getting her punches right before moving into anything too showy? As I’ve said with Kelly Kelly, it doesn’t help when you overcompensate for your lack of experience with flashy moves – try and perfect the basics. The end was definitely edited as one moment, Candice was behind Beth and then miraculously in front of her. Candice has a long way to go and I certainly wouldn’t rank her in-ring skills above the Divas Champion, Michelle McCool. That said, Candice isn’t as bad as some fans will suggest. She’s certainly a step ahead of Maria and former Diva, Ashley. To reiterate, thankfully for her and WWE this week’s show was taped but that won’t be the case next week. Hopefully, we can have a more informed judgement next Tuesday.
WWE.com is on a purple kick, because Katie Lea‘s sporting the color in her new photoshoot, “Purple Reign”. She looks very “American Gladiator” here, posing in her ring gear and having no shortage of intimidating faces. It’s definitely her schtick to do the grimaces and hand poses, but maybe she could lighten up on them … Read more
Welcome to the YouTube Classics! With Beth Phoenix’s Women’s Title victory at Summerslam, our theme this week will be “The Age of the Glamazon”, showing some of Beth Phoenix’s greatest moments. Today, we have Beth Phoenix vs. Katie Lea in a Ladder match from an edition of OVW television. These two Diva are currently on … Read more
With weekends being unanimous for slow news, I thought we’d start something new with a “weekend analysis” where we make the news, by analysing some of our Divas. This week, I’m kicking off with Katie Lea who after a decent push failed to meet viewer expectations. It seems when the opportunity knocked at Katie’s door, … Read more
Katie Lea may have been ousted out of a possible Summerslam match, but that doesn’t mean she’s completely disappeared. Her latest photoshoot, “Tough Love”, is simple yet effective. She looks gorgeous, and her black ensemble is sexy without looking trashy. This photoshoot isn’t my main concern, though.. I wonder if it was the smart move … Read more
This week on Raw: Mickie James defeated Katie Lea once again, only to be attacked by Beth Phoenix. Layla and Kelly Kelly also made appearances.
Thoughts & Reactions
If WWE were a man, he’d be a premature ejaculator. When it comes to the ladies, WWE likes to rush into things with little to no impact and last night might have been the single most “blink and you’ll miss it” moment in Diva history. As my good friend *cough* Heidi Klum would say, one day you’re in and the next you’re out. That’s exactly what happened on Raw as Katie was out and Beth was in, in a matter of seconds. Say goodbye to the long drawn programme that has taken place between Katie and Mickie over the past couple of months and say hello to a tag team match at SummerSlam between Kofi Kingston and Mickie taking on Beth and Santino.
Last week, I was full of hope and optimism… that was lost the second Mike Adamle announced there would be three title defences on Raw. I immediately knew we’d get Katie vs Mickie on Raw instead of at SummerSlam. My hope was deflated as I knew that we wouldn’t get the build-up I had so excitedly written about last week, instead we would get another lackluster match relegated to Raw. Did WWE not learn a few weeks ago how stale and boring this match was? They really needed the next few weeks to get fans interested again and pay us off at SummerSlam, after last week they incited some excitement in us fans but this week instead of continuing that booking, like any premature ejaculator… they peaked too soon. It was far too soon for this rematch and did nothing for either Diva, especially Katie Lea. We’ve been saying for weeks now, what is the point of a rematch unless Katie finally wins the title? I thought even though it’s not SummerSlam like I had hoped, they could redeem themselves by giving Katie the title. Instead, we got Mickie defeating Katie for the third straight time, which leaves one to wonder… what is the point? What point does it serve to have Mickie go over each and every time? Honestly, they continue to book the programme but have Katie lose every time, that’s not a storyline, that’s a waste of time. But to be honest, I don’t think last night’s match was worthy of a title change at all… it was a dark night in the career of Mickie James and to a lesser extent, Katie Lea. This was one of the worst matches I’ve seen two experienced wrestlers compete in, in quite some time. The whole match was uncomfortable and plodded along. Katie is continuously unexciting in the ring, given the push she has received and the skills she has – why is her wrestling so bland?! This match was really awkward to watch.
Match Ratings: PASS / FAIL
Comments: Third time lucky? No chance!
Next up we have Beth Phoenix officially in the title race again, attacking Mickie after the match. Am I the only one to let out a really big groan? The last thing I want to see is Beth vs Mickie again! Their feud was less than stellar the first time round but if they share more chemistry in the ring than Katie and Mickie obviously had, I guess I can learn to deal. I’m not too excited for the SummerSlam tag team match, but I would prefer it to a singles match between the two.
Layla also appeared on Raw, doing what she does best… dancing the night away! Is it just me or was William Regal about to say, “Every King needs a Queen” when he was interrupted by Jamie Noble?! Could you imagine Queen Layla?! Eek, if only he had been able to finish the sentence =(
I apologise once again for the delay with the Redux, there must be something in the water! I would do something like blame it on that darn earthquake in LA but alas, I live in London…
This week on Raw: Beth Phoenix and Santino continued their odd couple act, managing to beat Kelly Kelly in the process. Jillian made her Raw return in a competetive match with Mickie James, who was then attacked by the vicious Katie Lea. Oh and Layla too!
Thoughts & Reactions
Someone call it. It’s a record… all our Raw Divas managed to get some screen time this week. Perhaps there’s something in the water over at WWE too, because this is unprecedented. A far cry from the days of Ashley and Maria, all our girls were on the show and played a useful role on the programme. From the comedy routine with Beth and Santino, to Mickie’s victory over Jillian and then beatdown from Katie and Layla’s ongoing plot with Jamie – it seems Raw really has turned a corner and for the better. Where to start? The Women’s Championship, methinks! Last week, I gave Katie Lea an open challenge to excite me and boy did she ever! Here’s exactly what I wrote:
To tell you the truth, the Mickie-Katie feud has waned in recent weeks and I’m just not that excited to see another match between these two unless Katie pulls off the big one and becomes the Women’s Champion. I don’t really see this rematch as SummerSlam worthy unless the title were to change hands. The mixed tag was on par with the mixed tag team match we saw a month or so back with Mr Kennedy in Kofi Kingston’s place, both of these matches were good. But it did leave me wondering “What will they do next?†Because like I say, I feel this feud has lost it’s steam. And I hate to say that because I have been championing this feud and hoping it would really take off, but as of yet we’ve not seen anything too exciting happen between Katie and Mickie. Katie is a very capable wrestler, but as the weeks pass I’m beginning to wonder what flare she has in the ring – because so far, she has been pretty average. I would love to see Katie more confident in the ring and really show us a move set that sets her apart from the other Divas, Beth Phoenix and Mickie James have their unique signature moves that they can turn to in every match but Katie so far, has only displayed the basic moves. Katie, I dare you to excite me in the ring! Come on, I know you have it in you…
A week later, I think there’s someone on WWE Creative that’s clued into Diva Dirt. Not only did they inject some life and passion into this stale feud, they made me want to see a rematch between these two. Katie finally it took to the next level in her devillish ways, attacking Mickie and blowing her daddy a kiss in the process. I felt this was a really cool touch, I love the addition of Mickie’s dad being at ringside and the little blowing of the kiss; it makes this more personal and raw (no pun intended) – hopefully Mickie’s dad will continue to pop up between now and SummerSlam when I believe, this match will take place. I asked last week, “What will they do next?” And this week, they planted the seeds to what could be a really intense feud leading to SummerSlam. Having Mickie’s dad involved, they could really push the buttons on this feud – this is something we rarely see happen in the women’s division where Divas automatically have to be jealous of each other to ignite a feud. In my head, this could be great… maybe have Katie and Paul Burchill attack her dad next week in the ring, maybe even have Paul hold Mickie and make her watch while Katie slaps him around. From there, you could have Mickie go a little bit psycho (an ode to her old character) and really take the fight to Katie. If they follow up on this, we have ourselves a great match at SummerSlam. Katie showed a lot of flare and personality in this segment and really did excite me… now please let that translate into your match with Mickie. As I wrote last week, you cannot have this rematch once again only for Katie to lose. Katie has to finally go over and become Women’s Champion. The next few weeks will be pivotal to see if she’s really worth the title or not, because so far her matches have been simply average. The right storyline combined with the perfect match at SummerSlam and Katie as champion, is not so far fetched. Since my plea was answered last week, it couldn’t hurt to plead once again right? WWE, I dare you to follow up on this feud in the correct manner (i.e. as written above).
Okay next up, we have a segment that just about everyone loved… Beth Phoenix and Santino teaming up against Kelly Kelly and the returning D-Lo Brown. Not much to write home about was this match, it was fine for what it was – to set up a comedy act between Beth and Santino. I don’t know where this is going but it adds a nice dynamic to the Glamazon. Great work from both Divas involved. Speaking of, great work from Mickie and Jillian later in the night – compared to their singles match a few weeks ago, this was a lot more competetive and back and forth with Jillian looking really good in the ring. It was surprising to see Jillian get as much offense as she did, but this was a really good match.
Match Ratings: PASS / FAIL
Comments: Both matches were fine.
Last but not least, Layla continues her storyline with Jamie Noble. I don’t think WWE even knows what they’re doing here, I really like the idea of Layla and Kofi Kingston so I was happy to see them in the ring together… make it happen, WWE!
This week on Raw: Beth Phoenix decimated Kelly Kelly before locking lips with Santino. Meanwhile, Katie Lea and Mickie James continued their feud with a mixed tag team match everyone saw coming.
Thoughts & Reactions
It is with great pain that I write this week’s Raw Redux, because for the first time ever – I feel as though I don’t have much to write. Last night’s Raw wasn’t neither bad nor good, it was just average. There was a sufficient use of the Divas, which I applaud – they kept that going from last week’s all time high of Diva usage; but I felt this week’s show wasn’t much to write home about and that’s not to say it was at all bad.
The mixed tag team match, I saw coming a mile off and it was just fine. To tell you the truth, the Mickie-Katie feud has waned in recent weeks and I’m just not that excited to see another match between these two unless Katie pulls off the big one and becomes the Women’s Champion. I don’t really see this rematch as SummerSlam worthy unless the title were to change hands. The mixed tag was on par with the mixed tag team match we saw a month or so back with Mr Kennedy in Kofi Kingston’s place, both of these matches were good. But it did leave me wondering “What will they do next?” Because like I say, I feel this feud has lost it’s steam. And I hate to say that because I have been championing this feud and hoping it would really take off, but as of yet we’ve not seen anything too exciting happen between Katie and Mickie. Katie is a very capable wrestler, but as the weeks pass I’m beginning to wonder what flare she has in the ring – because so far, she has been pretty average. I would love to see Katie more confident in the ring and really show us a move set that sets her apart from the other Divas, Beth Phoenix and Mickie James have their unique signature moves that they can turn to in every match but Katie so far, has only displayed the basic moves. Katie, I dare you to excite me in the ring! Come on, I know you have it in you…
The second (well actually it aired earlier) match on Raw was Beth Phoenix taking on Kelly Kelly, I was left a little disappointed because I had hoped Santino would come down to the ring but as the night progressed, we did get to see that storyline be addressed. This match was again, just fine… actually, it was a little more than just fine. Kelly and Beth shared some chemistry in the ring and that’s something I wasn’t expecting, Kelly worked well with Beth – again, something I wasn’t expecting. If anything can be said for this match, it’s that it was very vocal. I almost felt embarassed watching because it really did sound like a barrage of orgasms from Kelly more so than Beth. Fun match, I loved the high impact face plant that Beth used to finish Kelly off (hence why I used it in the image above), hopefully she’ll retire the boring suplex thing and use this more often.
Continuing on the Beth front, she turned up later for Santino’s match and a part of me figured out where this was going but that was surpressed by the thoughts of, “WWE wouldn’t actually do this, would they?” Lo and behold, they did! I have to say, Beth and Santino straddling each other with Beth screaming “Get off me!” just seemed awkward, I guess that was the desired effect but it felt awkward as in the acting was bad. I wonder where they’ll go with this? It seems the sour Glamazon is sweetening up a little, and I don’t like it! I would have prefered to have seen Santino challenge Beth to a rematch and see these two feud rather than go for a love story. This seemed a little like Stockholm Syndrome, I wonder if that’s how they’ll play it out? I can totally see the Glamazon being the bunny boiler girlfriend, that could be fun to watch!
Katie Lea may have lost to Mickie James twice in a row, but she’s still doing pretty well for herself. Need proof? Look at these photos! Okay, so WWE.com photoshoots aren’t exactly equal to match victories, but you gotta take what you can get, right? I mean, look at her! This photoshoot is called “Ravishing … Read more
This week on Raw: Katie Lea got another shot at Mickie James, Beth Phoenix returned to Raw in sensationalistic fashion and Kelly Kelly and Layla got some airtime too!
Thoughts & Reactions
The verdict is in… I am pleased to report I absolutely loved Raw last night! Last week in Redux, I wrote:
Raw’s women’s division is a holding pattern right now, I do think Creative will finally turn their attention to the Divas after the post-Draft honeymoon period is over. Right now they’re working so diligently on making the rest of the product “must seeâ€, the Divas aren’t their top priority.
Well it seems like the honeymoon is over and Creative have finally turned their attention to Raw. And boy, have they! Not only did they finally step up their game with the women’s division but they went one further – they booked the Divas so strongly, making them really part of the Raw mythos. Having them integrate with the Superstars gives a real sense of importance to our beloved Divas and shows that they too can be a pivotal part of Raw rather than just throwing a couple of Divas out there to fill the ‘Diva match quota’ for the week. From top to bottom, I thought this week’s Raw was fantastic and it’s really made the show ‘must watch’ television again. Since the Draft, all the focus has been on the rest of the show that the Divas were only used to fill a quota, that was my only grievance with Raw. However this week, the whole show was solid.
The big, big story coming out of Raw was the fantastic re-introduction of the Glamazon, Beth Phoenix! Beth really was dealt a blow when Melina was injured as it meant WWE had to throw away all their plans for this feud and resulted in Beth not appearing on Raw in a month. After Melina was injured, I was even left wondering just how WWE could bring Beth back at this point; it seemed the only option was to have her challenge Mickie and that’s something I don’t think any of us want to see again anytime soon. Instead, last night, WWE found a fun, interesting and truly creative way to bring back Beth Phoenix and it worked a treat! If you didn’t jump out of your chair or scream out loud when Beth’s music hit last night on Raw, you got issues! The crowd was not at all expecting Beth to rock up and damn, did she receive a hell of a pop or what?! Just when you thought there was no one left to beat Santino, out comes a Diva and not just any Diva at that! I don’t know where they’re going with this but it was interesting while it lasted. It was something new and interesting and you could tell the crowd was so into it, because it was so fresh to the current WWE product. Of course, we’ve seen Chyna come and go but in this day and age, this was something new and I think that’s why we all got so into it. Great job by WWE!
It will be interesting to see where this goes; I don’t think Beth will now become a face as some have suggested. I just don’t think Diva-wise, she could be a face but I would love to see her continue to work with Santino, maybe make this into a short feud while the Mickie-Katie programme is going on or until Candice is ready to come back. Beth is in a unique position, we loved seeing her against Santino last night but we’re designed to hate her when she’s wrestling Candice and Mickie; this could be cool. I think in this programme with Santino (if they follow through) she could be a face but when it comes to the Divas, she just has to be a heel! Hopefully they have her continue to work with Santino, it could be fun – maybe have him demand a rematch next week! This will keep Beth booked up until she’s ready to engage in a programme with another Diva. Even if it was a one off, it was fantastic.
In the opening contest of Raw, we had a rematch from Night of Champions with Mickie vs Katie. I thought this match was a lot better than their match at the pay per view, i got into it and I really wanted to see Katie pick up the win. If Katie and Paul are meant to be heels, wouldn’t it be logical to have Paul try to interfere? Instead, we had a post-match assault which worked well. I like that they are keeping the feud between Mickie and Katie going, even if we have had a two week gap (some things never change)! But yeah, this was great and then the interaction during the Intercontinental Championship match only set this feud up further, I definitely see them continuing to feud for a while with another title match on the cards! I’m suspecting a mixed tag match next week, as I wrote before – having the Divas get involved in storylines with the Superstars really gives them a sense of importance on the show. I’m all for it!
After we got Katie vs Mickie and Beth beating Santino, we got a shot of Kelly freakin’ Kelly! My first thought was “Oh my god, more Divas? This is too good to be true!” and it was unfortunately. Seems like they teased another Divas match simply as a ploy to get Kelly some screentime and further push that Raw has a new, improved flavour with 100% unpredictability. I would have loved another Divas match though! Well I guess what we got later was just as good… Layla! The backstage segment with Jamie Noble and Layla was nicely done, I hope they don’t pair them up though but at least it got Layla on TV!
Overall, I was very pleased with all the appearances of the Divas that we got! I really hope they keep this momentum going into next week, don’t let us down now!
Katie Lea is wearing something not red – hallelujah! I kid.. But it’s nice to see her change up her look a bit, even if that means sporting a frightening-looking manicure. In this photoshoot, aptly titled “Black & Blue”, Katie’s still got her voodoo poses going on, but I can’t say I *hate* them. They … Read more
SmackDown’s women’s division is heating up, in fact they’ve usurped the pay per view position usually held by Raw’s Women’s Championship as at the Great American Bash, Michelle McCool and Natalya will do battle for the all new Divas Championship. Meanwhile over on Raw, things seem to have sizzled out since Night of Champions, when … Read more
This week on Raw: Mickie James continued her roll, pinning Jillian in singles action. Meanwhile, Katie Lea continues to cause trouble.
Thoughts & Reactions
With Raw more eventful and more exciting that it has ever been in the past few years, why was the women’s action so average last night?! I have been left underwhelmed for the second night in a row, after the match at Night of Champions and then the match last night on Raw. While it was nice to see Jillian get some ring time, what was the point when it’s clear what WWE thinks of her? How can the fans be interested in Jillian when WWE beats a dead horse with her gimmick and has her job 24/7? Needless to say, I don’t think there’s much point to Jillian’s career at this point in time and I don’t think WWE are at all interested in rejuvenating it. When Jillian came out, didn’t you just know Mickie was going to win this easy match? The only thing that got me through was the fact that I thought Katie might hit the ring after the match, attacking Mickie to continue to their feud. That didn’t happen either…
So what we’re left with is an average night for the Divas… again. Is it just me or has the Raw women’s division lost some of it’s steam in recent weeks? Are the Creative team focussing so much on making the rest of Raw more interesting that they’ve forgotten about the women’s division? Last night felt like just a token Divas match to fill a quota. For many weeks, the women’s division was one of the highlights of Raw but while the rest of the product improved last night, the women’s division digressed. The match itself wasn’t bad, it was just average.
Later in the evening, we did get a hint that WWE will continue the Mickie-Katie feud in a backstage segment with Katie Lea and Paul Burchill, this was well done. I really like the idea of Katie being a trouble maker and Paul can’t leave her alone for five minutes without her causing more trouble! Her character is a lot of fun, I just want to see that translate into the women’s division and not in random skits putting over other Superstars. I was pretty disappointed with the lack of Layla too, I don’t think they’ve come up with anything for her, go figure.
Welcome to Diva Dirt’s Style Showdown! Last time on the Showdown, we had a rematch from the “Summertime Beach Bikini Blowout”, pitting Eve, Jillian, Layla, Lena, Maria, Maryse, and Melina against one another in their respective bikinis. With 177 votes cast, Melina came out on top with 68 votes, while second place was a three-way … Read more